Multi-stringed musical instruments containing a finger board include guitars, banjos, mandolins, ukuleles and the like.
Musical instruments having multiple strings allow chords to be played. To play a chord a player plucks or strums a number of strings together while adopting a particular finger placement on the finger board corresponding to the desired chord.
The finger board of such instruments usually comprise a long narrow neck divided into discrete areas or zones by a plurality of frets. The frets usually comprise ridges of metal, ivory or other material fixed across the finger board and slightly spaced from the musical strings.
To play a desired chord, a player adopts a particular finger position on the finger board which results in some or all of the musical strings being pressed against a fret. This causes the effective length of the string to vary thereby allowing a variety of musical notes to be formed.
As a guitar or like instrument usually comprises about 6 musical strings and about 10 frets along the finger board, it is apparent that many thousands of different chords can be played depending upon finger placement on the finger board.
To assist a player in identifying the chords, chord books are available listing chords according to their key. In practice, it is cumbersome and slow to leaf through such a chord book to find a desired chord.
A further disadvantage with chord books is that while it does assist in showing a player how to place his fingers on a finger board, it does not assist in allowing a player to determine a particular chord from a study of his finger placement. Under these circumstances, it is necessary to leaf through the entire chord book in the hope that an identical finger placement can be found to identify the particular chord.
Various attempts have been made to overcome the disadvantages inherent in a chord book.
Australian patent application 64762/74 is directed to a chord indicating device for pianos and similar keyboard instruments. The device comprises an elongate strip which rests on the black keys of a piano and is marked to indicate notes. This particular device is unsuitable for stringed instruments having a finger board.
Australian patent application 72424/74 discloses a calculator for determining musical chords. The calculator comprises a slide slidable in a guide member. While the calculator is useful to identify a chord, it does not identify finger placement on a finger board to allow a chord to be played.
Australian patent application 76558/74 discloses a musical teaching device. The device comprises a pair of circular disks which are movable relative to each other. Each disk carries music identifying indicia printed thereon. This device does not allow a ready identification of finger placement on a finger board to allow a chord to be played.
Australian patent application 21229/83 discloses a slide rule for stringed instruments. The rule consists of a base member and a number of masks slidable in the base member. The device requires the use of several different masks depending on the scale type with different masks being required for major and minor scales. The arrangement is cumbersome for a player wishing to readily determine chords of different scales as the player is required to remove the existing mask from the base member and insert a second mask. By having the slide rule comprising a number of separate integers, there is always the possibility of unused masks being lost or mislaid. The rule is also cumbersome to use in that it requires a system of twelve different colours by which to distinguish different chords.
Australian patent application 28219/84 discloses a musical scale which allows the notes of a particular chord to be identified but does not readily identify finger placement of a finger board of a musical instrument to allow a chord to be played.
Australian patent application 43822/89 discloses a musical scale slide rule for stringed instruments. The device comprises a base member and at least four separate slide members which are slidable along different portions of the base member. The base member has representations of at least four finger boards and the four separate slide members slide into respective slots in the base member. The use of four separate slide members makes the resulting device difficult to work and difficult to understand.